


Insomnia

by DanniAuttumns



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 15:26:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13297746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanniAuttumns/pseuds/DanniAuttumns
Summary: Set in the animal world.Barry finds himself unable to sleep. Will writing some sciencey notes help? Will he ever solve the mystery of why the twins sleep?My first foray back to writing!





	Insomnia

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! First, I would like to thank you for clicking on my little story here. I haven’t written fiction for a good 10 years, but this is special! This is a present for my Secret Santa (let’s name them King Rancho). I’m posting it publicly for all to enjoy, and if this goes well, I may be writing some more.
> 
> I don’t own anything except my ideas and my laptop. The Adventure Zone is the brain property of the McEleroy’s and Maximum Fun, who hold the copywrite there too.

Everyone knew Elves didn’t sleep, and yet…

The first time Barry found himself face to face with the twins curled up on the couch and _not meditating_ , it was a little disconcerting. He was the science officer, yet could think of no reason his crewmates defied this very basic understanding of their own species. If he could zone out for 4 hours instead of having to sleep for 8, he would have absolutely jumped at the opportunity, probably get a lot more done too.

And questioning things just made it worse. 

Asking a question was the first step of the scientific method, no matter the reality.

He couldn’t tell if they started taking short rests _along with the long rests_ because of their magical consumption per day, wanting to gain back some hit points, or just to frazzle his brain.

_Hypothesis: It was probably all 3._

Laying in his bedroll and looking up at the sky that was beautiful, but unrecognizable, broke his heart. He needed to sleep himself. 8 whole hours was necessary to qualify as a long rest, and he needed to be sharp to continue the mission. 

Realizing it was a lost cause after a full hour of looking over at the twins curled up- did they roll their bedrolls together to make a super large single bedroll? – Barry sat up with a quiet sigh. If he was going to be up, he may as well be productive.

By the dying light of the embers, he took out his journal and started writing whatever came to his mind. The first page of which was research notes on the twins, ‘Why Do They Sleep’ written on top in larger letters, so he would know that was the title. The second page was a cheat sheet on the animal language, labeled with the title ‘Mongoose’. It was when he was in the middle of the third page, ‘The Light of Creation’, when he realized there was only one snore. He looked up and his eyes met Lup’s.

He did not scream. Not even a little. Must have been someone else.

“What are you doing, Barold?” Lup asked quietly, eyes on his chest, where he’d clutched his journal from something other than terror. Something like… he couldn’t even think of a good excuse with her this close, sharing the same breath almost. His face was burning, and he couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or shyness. The way her eyes sparkled in the low light made him wish he weren’t so near sighted and could take off his glasses to look at them more deeply.

“I-” He squeaked, then cleared his voice so it wouldn’t be so high pitched, “Couldn’t sleep.” 

She shifted, pulling back a little to sit down. Barry was thankful and hated the little bit of space it gave them. Having her that close probably wasn’t a good thing anyway, too distracting. He looked back at his journal, making a face because the wet ink smudged and rubbed off on his shirt. 

And she still hadn’t said anything. She was just looking at him, ears twitching slightly.

“I… can see that.” She said slowly, reaching out and taking his journal. He let her. Honestly, he was pretty sure he’d let her do anything she wanted, and he’d be able to do nothing but look at blush and thank her for it. “Nice penmanship.”

He wanted to say something clever, but between the lack of sleep and the complete and utter lack of any smooth bone in his body, he said, “Thanks, you too.”

She looked at him, an eyebrow cocked, and he wanted to die.

“I mean-probably. I haven’t seen much of your handwriting. I bet it’s nice.” He looked up at the sky, doing his best not to laugh from panic. He wasn’t doing a very good job.

He felt a light touch on his knee, half thinking it would be some sort of woodland creature, but was a little thrilled to see it was just her hand. Her nails looked to be an orange color, but he really couldn’t tell. His eyes followed up her arm and eventually got to her face after lingering a bit too long on her ears. Gods, ears had no right to be sexy.

“Do you think the animals here are vegan?” She asked, and it took his brain a moment to realize what she’d said.

“Wha-”

“Considering they’re sentient enough to build communities, do you think there is some sort of justice system for when animals eat other animals?” She looked at him, dead in the eyes, and he couldn’t tell if it was a serious question or a hypothetical one.

“W-We could ask in the morning?” He said, the implications of her words making an ache form in his temples. What if they were? What if the plants were sentient as well? Could he eat something if it could talk to him? Beg for its life?

“Lay down, Barold.” 

Before he even realized, she was up on her feet, her hand offered to him. He took it and went back to his bedroll, looking up at the sky once again, a whole new batch of questions in his mind, then he looked over to Taako, who was looking a little distressed now that his sister had moved. He jumped when he felt her lay down next to him, between him and her brother. “Shhh… Just for a bit.” She whispered, a little more quietly than she had just a few moments before.

“You can’t just ask me something like that and expect me to sleep.” He hissed, mostly to distract himself from the fact she was going to sleep literally with her arm around him.

“Sure I can. Have you even met me?” Her chuckle made his cheeks burn, almost as much as the arm around his chest did. He did his best to squirm as imperceptibly as possible, getting her hands closer to around his stomach where he’d be much more comfortable. She let herself be moved, but her cheek was still on his shoulder and her ear was basically brushing his cheek. She felt so warm, like she had absorbed the fire with the few moments she was near it, and it made his eyes feel heavy. Heavier than he was pretty sure he’d ever felt eyelids being.

The next thing he knew, something soft but heavy hit him on the face and he groaned and immediately felt the loss of Lup’s arms. He sat up, realizing his glasses were no longer on his face, but also not knocked off by whatever had hit him. They were folded gently next to his head where Lup had been the night before.

“Wake up, nerd, we’re going to go socialize with the Pokémon.” Taako said with a chuckle, collecting what he’d thrown at Barry. His bedroll.

Barry sat up, stretching his arms and putting on his glasses. His journal had been under them, a fact he hadn’t realized until said glasses were on. Had the night before been a dream? He tried to meet Lup’s eyes, but she had been pretty busy packing up herself. Almost the entire campsite.

Quickly wrapping up his own things, he had his pack back on his back and found some nuts and berried on a large leaf waiting by the fire pit. Practically with his name on it.

It was dusk again before he had a chance to look at his notebook. The thought it could have been a dream made a lump in his throat he hadn’t been expecting. His hand rested on the cover for a good couple of minutes as he listened to the twins talk in the animal’s language, occasionally adding to a conversation just to practice. He opened it subconsciously to the second page, wanting to add more notes to his thesaurus of animal sounds.

There were marks on the page he didn’t make there.

_Corrections._

Not a lot of them, accents in places mostly. No words or phrases, just marks. Feeling heat rise to his cheeks, he turned back to the first page, unsure of what he’d find there.

He had to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep from smiling.

Where he’d just had the title and a couple of research notes about the twins, was now full of answers to the question posed at the top of the page.

A large ‘WE DO WHAT WE WANT’ was scrawled across diagonally, he could tell it was Taako’s because he’d taken time writing it, despite it looking like it was meant to be a spur of the moment choice. 

He could tell which writing was Lup’s only because it was so different from her brother’s. Just as well thought out, but an actual answer to his question. Rather, many.

It was going to take him a while to read it, though.

Her handwriting was atrocious.


End file.
